Centre for Internet and Society

Right to Read

radha — 2009-09-18T09:51:47Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/home-images/right%20to%20read%20artwork.jpg

Response to TRAI Consultation paper No. 6/2009

radha — 2011-08-24T08:06:46Z

CIS Distinguished Fellow, Shyam Ponappa, provides a detailed response to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's Consultation paper No. 6/2009 "Overall Spectrum Management and review of license terms and conditions". Shyam Ponappa is suggesting that, the TRAI approach the telecom policy in a manner which will facilitate greater user access and, more generally, be designed to serve the public interest in the long-term.

Shyam Ponappa November 12, 2009
Distinguished Fellow
Centre for Internet & Society
Bangalore/New Delhi
cis-india.org

shyamponappa@gmail.com

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
Attn: Sh. Sudhir Gupta, Advisor (MN)
Mahanagar Doorsanchar Bhawan
Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg, New Delhi-110 002
Tel. No.011-23220018 , Fax No.011-23212014

E-mail : advmn@trai.gov.in

TRAI Consultation paper No. 6/2009- October 16, 2009

"Overall Spectrum Management and review of license terms and conditions"

Sir,

It would help to have a logical framework that defines overall objectives, prioritizes issues, and structures and organizes issues and questions. This would facilitate analysis and response, as we have attempted below.

We begin by responding to Question 57 as a preamble to all the questions:

57. What in your opinion is the desired structure for efficient management of spectrum?
[This question addresses only one of two essential criteria, efficiency. The other criterion is effectiveness; both need equal emphasis.]

Please see separate attachment for answers to Questions 1-56.

Status

Currently, communications services in India comprising Internet, voice and SMS have the following attributes:

Low broadband usage, with relatively high prices: eg, direct satellite TV subscriptions at Rs. 200/month, compared with 512 kbps Internet at Rs. 1,000/month.
Fragmented spectrum allocation for exclusive use by each operator in a service area.
Very high intensity of spectrum use by operators compared with international norms because of constrained availability.
Too many operators per service area (11-14 or more [15-16 with all potential operators with GSM and CDMA counted separately], versus the global average of 4-5).

[For details on (2), (3) and (4), please see: 'An assessment of spectrum management policy in India', David Lewin, Val Jervis, Chris Davis, Ken Pearson, Plum Consulting, December 2008
http://www.plumconsulting.co.uk/pdfs/GSMA%20spectrum%20management%20policy%20in%20India.pdf]

Needs

Our needs are:

good services for Internet, voice and SMS,
at reasonable prices, eg, comparable pricing for TV and broadband,
accessible from/to most households across the country.

The need is especially great in rural areas, as broadband can be the medium for delivery of essential services like education (from basic to advanced to vocational training and Continuing Education at all levels, including high-level professional CE), health (again, from basic diagnostics and monitoring at home, to advanced care at adequately equipped centres), and security and law-and-order services at significantly higher levels than is possible without excellent communications infrastructure.

In view of the above, we suggest that the Government of India consider adopting the following policy goals in the public interest ( and therefore, that where appropriate, the TRAI set these objectives/make appropriate recommendations to the GOI).

Suggested Policy Goals/Objectives [based on needs]

Adopt the criteria of long-term net benefits in the public interest for decisions, eschewing short-term cash collections from auctions and fees.
An approach to policies for telecommunications services (not for broadcasting) that limits the number of operators per service area in line with international experience, because of the economics of networks.
[This implies an explicit reversal of prior policies to maximize competition, and requires allowing for consolidation through mergers and acquisitions.]
Access to broadband (to be defined as at least 512 kbps in keeping with international norms) at all feasible locations in the country for all users.
Develop incentives and penalties favouring good rural service provision, with the emphasis on broadband: an Administered Incentive Pricing mechanism.
Explore ways to structure policies to reduce costs/maximize utility through facilities and resource sharing, so that prices can be reduced while maintaining good scope for investment from growth and profits.

This implies two areas of exploration:
a) Shared use of facilities and equipment/networks;
b) Shared use of spectrum.

(i) This is best done by collaborative consultations between experts (from the GOI, private sector and academia), operators, equipment providers, and government. Without the requisite interdisciplinary skills combined with operating expertise and investment capability, the effort is too complex for an iterative, serial consultation process.
(ii) Even within the GOI, this requires interdisciplinary and cross-jurisdictional convergence, both to develop solutions as well as to implement them.
(iii) This also needs GOI initiatives to invite companies like Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola and Qualcomm as well as Google and Intel, possibly cable companies like Liberty Global, and electricity companies that deliver Internet through their networks.
(iv) The GOI also needs to depute experienced representatives from various ministries and departments including the WPC, the Defence Services, and specialist agencies such as the DRDO/NTRO.
[Please see ‘Managing Spectrum’ in the Business Standard November 5, 2009, and related references: http://organizing-india.blogspot.com/2009/11/managing-spectrum.html]
Monitor operations online and intervene actively where revenues (the totality of rates/tariffs) are far above total costs, i.e., profits are unreasonable. This is a necessary adjunct to accepting a monopolistic/oligopolistic market structures.

Suggested Approach

The use of a decision tree as in the ‘Issue Map for Spectrum & Broadband’ below (please see Exhibit) facilitates a logical sequence and prioritization in exploring alternatives. (Please note that this is for broadband, voice and SMS, and not for broadcasting.) A similar exploration process for networks and facilities (sharing versus exclusive use for delivery) could follow. However, stakeholders should be free to use any analytical process to improve on this in the common interest.

Once decisions are taken on these two issues (spectrum and network/ facilities sharing), other issues like pricing and consolidation can be logically addressed based on these decisions, probably within the scope of existing laws and regulations.

New regulations or laws should be considered only after comprehensive analysis on the lines of Project LARGE (Legal Adjustments and Reforms for Globalising the Economy by Sh. Bibek Debroy).

Exhibit: Issue Map on Spectrum & Broadband

Shyam Ponappa
Centre for Internet & Society
cis-india.org

Attachment – Question 1-57

TRAI Consultation paper No. 6/2009 – October 16, 2009

Overall Spectrum Management and review of license terms and conditions

Chapter 1
Spectrum requirement and availability

Do you agree with the subscriber base projections? If not, please provide the reasons for disagreement and your projection estimates along with their basis?
Do not disagree.
Do you agree with the spectrum requirement projected in ¶ 1.7 to ¶1.12? Please give your assessment (service-area wise).
Agree if exclusive bands of spectrum are used by different operators, and the spectrum requirement is linked to subscribers. Disagree if common use of spectrum is adopted. Please see preamble (reply to Question 57) for details of shared/pooled spectrum approach.
How can the spectrum required for Telecommunication purposes and currently available with the Government agencies be re-farmed?
(a) By rationalizing usage, as advocated in the preamble for commercial operators, by pooling spectrum for common use where possible.
(b) By inducting equipment that allows more efficient usage and usage of other bands.
In view of the policy of technology and service neutrality licences, should any restriction be placed on these bands (800,900 and 1800 MHz) for providing a specific service and secondly, after the expiry of present licences, how will the spectrum in the 800/900 MHz band be assigned to the operators?
(a) Please see suggestions on shared/pooled spectrum as above.
(b) In the event that common use of spectrum is infeasible/not accepted by the Government of India, and exclusive bands of spectrum are assigned to operators as is the practice now, work out ways to consolidate fragmented bands (other than through M&A) for operators, to enable operators to hold contiguous bands for greater efficiency, and explore shared use of pooled spectrum.
How and when should spectrum in 700 MHz band be allocated between competitive services?
Preferred method: for common use (can be pooled or shared even if assigned for exclusive use, immediately).
What is the impact of digital dividend on 3G and BWA?
Should extend its reach and access because of lower costs.

Chapter 2
Licensing Issues
Should the spectrum be delinked from the UAS Licence? Please provide the reasons for your response.
If spectrum is treated as a common resource, the logical requirement is for a linkage that is not dependent on ownership, but to access for service delivery, i.e., common access.
In case it is decided not to delink spectrum from UAS license, then should there be a limit on minimum and maximum number of access service providers in a service area? If yes, what should be the number of operators?
Follow global practice: do not exceed five operators in any service area unless there are compelling reasons to do so.
What should be the considerations to determine maximum spectrum per entity?
Minimum contiguous band for effective rollout and efficient delivery, i.e., inexpensive capital outlay for equipment and towers/network while maintaining Quality of Service.
Is there a need to put a limit on the maximum spectrum one licensee can hold? If yes, then what should be the limit? Should operators having more than the maximum limit, if determined, be assigned any more spectrum?
This depends on the overall approach to spectrum management, i.e., common use, or exclusive use. The logic for a limit is effective delivery capability at ‘normal’ cost. There is no logic for assigning more than this. However, if spectrum is for common/shared use, the only criterion is throughput/capacity.
If an existing licensee has more spectrum than the specified limit, then how should this spectrum be treated? Should such spectrum be taken back or should it be subjected to higher charging regime?
As in No. 10. If common/shared spectrum use is adopted, there needs to be a transition worked out, as in the transition to revenue sharing.
In the event fresh licences are to be granted, what should be the Entry fee for the license?
The principles followed should be:
(a) Low license fees to minimize access costs.
(b) Provided licenses are delinked from spectrum and few in number, there need to be strict rollout requirements.
(c) Incentives for broadband and rural coverage in the form of a structured Administrative Incentive Pricing mechanism.
(d) Penalties for failure.
In case it is decided that the spectrum is to be delinked from the license then what should be the entry fee for such a Licence and should there be any roll out condition?
As in No. 12.
Is there a need to do spectrum audit? If it is found in the audit that an operator is not using the spectrum efficiently what is the suggested course of action? Can penalties be imposed?
(a) Operating attributes should be monitored online on a continuous basis.
(b) Spectrum use probably needs to be monitored as an operating attribute.
(c) Penalties and incentives are needed, including forfeiture for continued transgression.
Can spectrum be assigned based on metro, urban and rural areas separately? If yes, what issues do you foresee in this method?
This needs to be considered only if common/pooled usage is decided against. With common use or sufficiently large blocks/bands of spectrum, no problems are likely to arise.
Since the amount of spectrum and the investment required for its utilisation in metro and large cities is higher than in rural areas, can asymmetric pricing of telecom services be a feasible proposition?
Yes.

M&A issues
If the common/shared use approach is adopted, M&A can be under existing laws and regulations.
Whether the existing licence conditions and guidelines related to M&A restrict consolidation in the telecom sector? If yes, what should be the alternative framework for M&A in the telecom sector?
Whether lock-in clause in UASL agreement is a barrier to consolidation in telecom sector? If yes, what modifications may be considered in the clause to facilitate consolidation?
Whether market share in terms of subscriber base/AGR should continue to regulate M&A activity in addition to the restriction on spectrum holding?
Whether there should be a transfer charge on spectrum upon merger and acquisition? If yes, whether such charges should be same in case of M&A/transfer/sharing of spectrum?
Whether the transfer charges should be one-time only for first such M&A or should they be levied each time an M&A takes place?
Whether transfer charges should be levied on the lesser or higher of the 2G spectrum holdings of the merging entities?
Whether the spectrum held consequent upon M&A be subjected to a maximum limit?

Spectrum Trading
Is spectrum trading required to encourage spectrum consolidation and improve spectrum utilization efficiency?

At present, trading is required to allow consolidation. However, if a comprehensive approach is taken to spectrum use, and especially if common use through common access is established, this set of problems will no longer exist after a transition period. Nor will there be any shortage of spectrum.
Who all should be permitted to trade the spectrum ?
As in No. 24.
Should the original allottee who has failed to fulfill “Roll out obligations” be allowed to do spectrum trading?
There should be penalties and forfeiture for failure to meet rollout obligations, and clawbacks as an interim measure during the transition.
Should transfer charges be levied in case of spectrum trading?
What should be the parameters and methodology to determine first time spectrum transfer charges payable to Government for trading of the spectrum? How should these charges be determined year after year?
Should such capping be limited to 2G spectrum only or consider other bands of spectrum also? Give your suggestions with justification.

This question assumes there is a difference in “2G spectrum” and other spectrum, which is incorrect. The difference is in equipment that has evolved in different phases along different bands. Spectrum should be treated as technology-neutral for the purposes of service delivery. Any service should be deliverable on any band, subject to interference limitations.
Should size of minimum tradable block of spectrum be defined or left to the market forces?
Should the cost of spectrum trading be more than the spectrum assignment cost?

Spectrum sharing

These questions are addressed in the preamble in the cover note.
Should Spectrum sharing be allowed? If yes, what should be the regulatory framework for allowing spectrum sharing among the service providers?
What should be criteria to permit spectrum sharing?
Should spectrum sharing charges be regulated? If yes then what parameters should be considered to derive spectrum sharing charges? Should such charges be prescribed per MHz or for total allocated spectrum to the entity in LSA?
Should there be any preconditions that rollout obligation be fulfilled by one or both service provider before allowing the sharing of spectrum?
In case of spectrum sharing, who will have the rollout obligations? Giver or receiver?

Perpetuity of licences
Should there be a time limit on licence or should it be perpetual?
What should be the validity period of assigned spectrum in case it is delinked from the licence? 20 years, as it exists, or any other period
What should be the validity period of spectrum if spectrum is allocated for a different technology under the same license midway during the life of the license?
If the spectrum assignment is for a defined period, then for what period and at what price should the extension of assigned spectrum be done?
If the spectrum assignment is for a defined period, then after the expiry of the period should the same holder/licensee be given the first priority?

Uniform License Fee
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a uniform license fee?
Whether there should be a uniform License Fee across all telecom licenses and service areas including services covered under registrations?
If introduced, what should be the rate of uniform License Fee?

License fees should be treated as part of the overall scheme of Administered Incentive Pricing.

Chapter 3
Spectrum assignment
If the initial spectrum is de-linked from the licence, then what should be the method for subsequent assignment?
Please see comments on common/shared use in the preamble in the cover note.
If the initial spectrum continues to be linked with licence then is there any need to change from SLC based assignment?
The SLC basis for spectrum assignment gives rise to many distortions and is not in line with international practices.
In case a two-tier mechanism is adopted, then what should be the alternate method and the threshold beyond which it will be implemented?
Should the spectrum be assigned in tranches of 1 MHz for GSM technology? What is the optimum tranche for assignment?
In case a market based mechanism (i.e. auction) is decided to be adopted, would there be the issue of level playing field amongst licensees who have different amount of spectrum holding? How should this be addressed?
In case continuation of SLC criteria is considered appropriate then, what should be the subscriber numbers for assignment of additional spectrum?
In your opinion, what should be the method of assigning spectrum in bands other than 800, 900 and 1800 MHz for use other than commercial?

Spectrum pricing
Should the service providers having spectrum above the committed threshold be charged a one time charge for the additional spectrum?
In case it is decided to levy one time charge beyond a certain amount then what in your opinion should be the date from which the charge should be calculated and why?
On what basis, this upfront charge be decided? Should it be benchmarked to the auction price of 3G spectrum or some other benchmark?
Should the annual spectrum charges be uniform irrespective of quantum of spectrum and technology?
Should there be regular review of spectrum charges? If so, at what interval and what should be the methodology?

Structure for spectrum management
What in your opinion is the desired structure for efficient management of spectrum?

Please see the preamble in the cover note.

Shyam Ponappa
Centre for Internet & Society
cis-india.org

November 12, 2009

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/response-to-trai-consultation-paper

Reading options for persons with print disabilities

radha — 2011-08-02T01:35:28Z

An article by Mr.Dipendra Manocha (Regional co-ordinator for developing countries of the Daisy Consortium and president DFI) on the reading options which are available for the blind.

Most of the publications reach us in form of printed books. There are many people who cannot read these due to various reasons such as: persons with blindness or low vision, persons with dyslexia, Persons who cannot use both their hands to hold the book, People who cannot read due to illiteracy, etc. The printed text need to be converted into different format to enable such persons to acquire the knowledge hidden in these books. These formats are:

Braille: A tactile script used world over by persons with blindness.
Talking Books: Books recorded in Human Voice or computer voice distributed on Audio Cassettes or CDs.
e-text books which are in form of computer document which can be read on a computer or on special portable players
Large print books which are useful for persons with low vision.

The digital technology provide multiple ways of producing or reading books in the above mentioned formats. This creates confusion in the minds of end users and leaders of organizations serving persons with blindness or low vision. Below are some options which will try to provide some clarity in these matters.

In the digital world, it is possible that when you get a book in one format, you could convert it into another format. For example, we could get a talking book on a CD. This talking book could also be downloaded from the internet. How ever, it would take a long time to download this book in the audio recorded format. The alternative is that the same book could be downloaded in the e-text format and the reading device would convert text into audio at the time of reading the book itself. Thus, for a user it would make no difference between an audio book recorded in computer voice or a book which is being read by the device from the e-text version of the book. Difference between the time required to download the audio recorded book and the e-text book which is read by the special e-text reading device would be a lot. To provide clarity in the confusing world of Digital information systems, DAISY is trying to bring in some clarity. DAISY means Digital Accessible Information system. It deals with all the formats of accessible books including Braille, Talking Book, E-text books and large print books. There are various organizations which provide books to read in accessible format. Below are some such services. Which services would be useful to you will depend on what kind of reading device do you have with you. Thus, I am going to classify these services and reading options on some devices. Categories of reading devices are:

Computer
Mobile phone
DAISY Book Reader with TTS
DAISY Book Reader without TTS
CD player
Audio Cassette player
nothing

1. Reading Options for People who have computer with screen reading software:

Scan your book: Attach a scanner to your computer and you can start reading any printed book in English medium. This option is not available in any Indian language.
The Bookshare India Project: Bookshare.org is a online library for persons with print disabilities. Members of this library can download a book and read them on the computer. A special software is provided to all members of the library for reading their books. The books are in DAISY Text only format and provide navigation facility while reading the book. Current collection is in English but soon Indian language books are going to be introduced in this library. There is a collection of about 7000 books in this library and the collection is growing extremely fast here. Persons with print disability can become members of this library by paying annual membership fee of Rs. 400.
Web sites with e-text book collections: There are several web sites from where text of the books can be downloaded. You can read these books using the screen reading software. There are several web sites such as the web site of Project Gutenburg, Universal Digital Library etc. which provide thousands of books which can be downloaded. Most of these books are those which are out of copy right restrictions. How ever, online books resources such as Readable.in does provide copy righted books free of cost to persons with print disabilities. There are some subscription based databases of books and research articles. Universities provide access to such collections free of cost to their students and faculty members free of cost. J-Store and Ebrary are two such examples. There are no such online resources for books in Indian languages which are accessible to a screen reader user. National Institute for Visually Handicapped is planning to change this by introducing an online Braille library for Indian language books required by University Students.
Talking Book and Braille Book Libraries part of DAISY Forum of India: This is one resource which would provide books in Indian languages. 72 organisations from all round the country are part of DAISY Forum of India. These organizations provide talking books, Braille books or e-text books to persons with blindness or low vision. Any user can become a member of one of these 72 organisations and get access to all the books produced by any of the 72 organisations. One user need to become member of only one organization in this network. Your library can get a book for you from any other library of DAISY Forum of India.
The RSS Feed: This is an excellent way of reading news papers, magazines and text which is provided from time to time. A RSS Feed software provides an extremely convenient way of displaying list of articles from a news paper or a magazine such as frontline etc. If you have a screen reader in Indian language, you can read Indian language materials using this system.
Text packages for encyclopedia, dictionary telephone directories etc: There are several software packages sold on a CD which have collection of content. All these CD packages are not readable with screen reading software due to bad design of their user interface. How ever, lot of these are accessible and provide an excellent resource of reading materials.
Braille Books: All books that are described above can be read in Braille if a refreshable Braille display is attached to a computer. If you do not have access to this expensive device, then also you can get the computer text printed into Braille using computerized Braille embossers and many organisations provide such Braille printing facilities.

2. Mobile Phones
There is a category of mobile phones on which screen reading software and the DAISY player can be installed. These mobile phones are capable of not just a medium of audio and text communication, but also are personal organizers. Adding Screen reading software to them into book reader and these phones provide access to internet and e-mails. The DAISY Book Reader software of the phone turns this phone into a Audio and Text book reader. This phone is a mini computer and is extremely portable. All the materials that are available on the computer using any of the above mentioned resources can be transferred on to the mobile phone as text files or in form of DAISY digital talking books for reading.

3. DAISY Book reader with TTS
These are devices designed specially for persons with blindness or low vision. These are capable of playing audio books and also read computer files using text to speech software. These are very easy to use. All books available on the computers or from the talking book and e-text libraries can be transferred on this device for reading. These devices are very portable and can fit in the pocket.
4. DAISY Players without TTS
These are similar to the DAISY Players with TTS but do not capability to read text files in computer voice. All digital talking books available from talking book libraries can be transferred on these devices for reading. Text files can be converted into digital talking books using computer voice before transferring them to these players. In this way even the text files gathered on computer using any of off line and online resources can be read on these players also.
5. CD Players:
CD players are available at a very low cost. These CD players can provide access to Digital talking books recorded as DAISY Books or as MP3 talking books. These players are designed for listening to music. There fore these players lack some of the features required for reading books such as navigating to pages or next or previous sentences etc. In these players even the DAISY Books are played as MP3 books. You will not be able to resume the book from where you last left reading it.
6. Audio Cassette Player
This would give access only to talking books available from talking book libraries on audio cassettes. Text files and computer voice recorded books produced as talking books from text files cannot be copied on audio cassettes. Thus, only those books which have been produced on audio cassettes only can be made available in this format. These cannot be transformed into any other format such as Braille etc. These cannot be transferred to other reading devices also.
7. Nothing:
Braille books printed on hard copy paper do not need any device. How ever, printing of Braille books is very expensive and heavy subsidy is required to produce Braille books. There fore, nothing beyond basic text books are being produced in Braille book format.

Conclusion:
By far, computer is the most versatile reading device as it provides access to content which is produced for every one and content need not be converted into a specialized format to read it. Besides being a reading device, computer is also a writing device which is a huge advantage over any other reading options. Computers themselves are becoming portable. How ever, a combination of a portable device such as a Mobile phone or a DAISY Book reader along with a computer provides best reading options. Refreshable Braille devices can be provided at the institutional level and text books could also be provided in paper Braille format. There cannot be any comparison between the amount of books that can be made available on computers or mobile phones or the DAISY reading devices than on special format such as Braille. Millions of books and publications become accessible to persons with blindness if hey have access to a computer. Where as, on an average only about 5 to 10 braille books can be made available to a person with blindness or low vision.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/reading-options-for-persons-with-print-disabilities

Reading For All

radha — 2011-04-02T14:26:41Z

Right To Read campaign has begun in India to voice the needs of the disabled to gain access to books - an article by Lubna Salim in Kolkata Mirror - Saturday, November 14, 2009

This year marks the beginning of the countrywide Right to Read campaign. As part of this campaign there will be road shows in the four metros and then these will be held in the different cities. Actors Nandita Das and Amir Khan and veteran journalist Rajdeep Sardesai are supporting the campaign.

The events of the campaign will include presentations, debates as well as demonstrations. There will be book reading sessions along with stalls whereby different accessibility tools shall be demonstrated. After the success of the first road show of this campaign in Loyola College, Chennai, the second one road was held in Kolkata. The venue for the Kolkata chapter of the Right To Read campaign was NUJS.

“As a visually impaired person I can identify with the goals of the campaign. I have suffered a lot having no access to books and other reading materials. Lack of access tends to make you so dependent on others,” says Moiz Tundawala, 5th year law student, NUJS.

Innumerable Indians are not able to read various printed materials due to their disabilities. Today there are technologies which can help such people to read print, once the materials are converted into alternate formats. These formats could be big print, audio and Braille or any sort of electronic format.

“Just try imagining life without books, without anything to read! Making reading materials available in accessible formats may go a long way in improving the life conditions of the print disabled and also help to make our society more accommodative, more inclusive. It is unfair to deprive some people of such a basic entitlement for no fault of theirs,” adds Moiz.

Our Indian Constitution guarantees its citizens “Right to read” as one fundamental right. But the copyright system does not allow us to convert books into accessible formats for the advantage of people who have print impairment. This leads to the creation of a “book famine”.

The international conventions to which India happens to be a party require it to revise its copyright laws. This will enable persons with the disabilities to avail of information plus material on the same basis as they are available to the others.

Moiz says, “People must endorse this campaign because it will give some people who have to struggle everyday for print access some hope that there are others who understand their concerns and think the same way as they do.”

Link to the original article

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/reading-for-all

Reading a closed book

radha — 2011-04-02T14:50:00Z

With the right combination of privacy tweaks and a little prudence, you can maintain privacy online - an article in Livemint by Krish Raghav (29th September, 2009)

Perhaps, no other word has undergone as much shape-shifting in the last few years as “privacy”. The concept, especially with the mainstreaming of social networking sites such as Facebook and Orkut, has metamorphosed into a fuzzy mess, with borders increasingly blurry and confines increasingly limited.

The story of Anoushka Shankar’s Facebook stalker may make the Internet look like a dangerous place for the unprepared, but with the right amount of prudence, you can maintain your privacy without having to give up on your online vices. While Facebook has faced enormous criticism for its lax privacy policies in the past, it’s wisened up now and features a detailed master control panel of privacy features, and the right combination of toggles and switches can help you put the personal back in your personal life. Here are five simple ways to help you define privacy online:

Learn the Privacy Settings

Privacy Settings is the second menu option under “Settings” in the big blue bar on top of every Facebook page. An important first step is defining who gets to see your contact information. Not all “friends” on Facebook need to be privy to your telephone number, for example. Proceed to the “Info” tab on your profile and click “Edit” under Contact information. Each item in that list can be customized to be viewable only to specific people.

It’s also best to be careful with what you put up in this section. “Don’t upload material that contains hints to your passwords,” says Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Bangalore-based non-profit civil society group, The Centre for Internet and Society. “Often, the answers to the secret question used to remind users of their password on sensitive online services can be determined by examining social networking content.” The name of your pet, birth date and names of schools are the usual secret questions and common information on profiles. “This is increasingly being targeted by hackers who use social engineering as their method of choice,” he says.

Organize your online social life

“Group your friends and fine-tune access-control over your social network content,” says Abraham. “Facebook allows you to granularly control who sees what. Configure this and then test your configuration before uploading sensitive content.”

Click on “Friends” on the top blue bar and select “Create new list” to begin organizing your friends. A useful distinction to start with is “Family” and “Friends”. While the latter might like to see photos of parties you attended last week, the former may not necessarily need to. It’s also important, says Abraham, to test your groupings to see if everything works. “Testing can be done by sitting with close friends who you can shift from group to group,” he says.

Be discreet

“Don’t upload material that might embarrass your future self: Text, images and video content that might be perfectly acceptable to your teen peers may not be acceptable to a future employer,” says Abraham. Rants against bosses or co-workers are highly unadvised and it’s best to stay away from anything inflammatory or potentially damaging. “Social networks have policies regarding data retention that change according to their commercial ambition and performance. Thus, in future, you may find it impossible to delete embarrassing content.”

Hide yourself from Google

To hide your profile from Google searches, go to “Privacy Settings”, click on “Search Privacy Settings” and deselect the box that says “create a public search listing for me and submit it for search engine indexing”. While that will hide your profile from showing up in search engines, the same can’t be said for content that you post there. “Don’t upload material that you would not want featured in mass media: Security compromises in social network services are usually systemic,” says Abraham. “Last year, 17GB of private photos were stolen from MySpace and were publicly available for download through torrent trackers such as Thepiratebay.org.”

Be careful of applications

Sure, Mafia Wars and FarmVille are great fun, but always read the fine print before using an application. Many are harmless, but some ask you for contact information and others that integrate external online services may make private information on these sites accessible. As an example, don’t give away your geographic location, warns Abraham. “If knowledge about your geographic location can be useful to business competitors, please be judicious when integrating services like Dopplr with your social network.” Dopplr is a site that allows travellers to plan itineraries and arrange meetings with people who might be at the same place at the same time.

Link to article in Livemint

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/reading-a-closed-book